Goro Akechi
|englishva= }} Goro Akechi is a playable character from Persona 5. He is revered as the second coming of the detective prince (the first appeared in Persona 4), and is investigating the mysterious Phantom Thieves of Hearts case sensationalizing Japan. Appearances *''Persona 5: Playable Character; Justice Confidant **Persona 5 (Manga): Major Character **Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers: Cameo **Persona 5 The Animation: Major Character Design Akechi has shaggy chin-length brown hair with bangs and reddish-brown eyes. He wears a tan peacoat with black buttons, striped black and white tie, black trousers, and black gloves. As Crow, Akechi wears a princely pure white royal outfit with red accents and a red, long-nosed mask. The artbook states his mask motif resembles that of a medieval western plague doctor, but in keeping with Akechi being as proud as a tengu, it's also got a long nose. His image is a combination of a noble's attire and a uniform worn by cavalry or guards of honor. As with his Robin Hood Persona, it's meant to give the feeling of putting on the air of a champion of justice, with nothing to do with being a Phantom Thief, robber or burglar of any sort, invoking the image of being at the front of a stage to contrast the protagonist's image of being more of a backstage actor. Once he reveals his true intentions, Akechi swaps his princely garb for a body-covering, black and purple striped outfit. In this form, he has several black belts strapped around his legs and arms. He also wears a dark enclosed knight helmet, similar to plate armor, with a deep crimson mask resembling a sharp beak. Much like with Loki's design, it alludes to a lack of agency, is meant to give a chaotic feeling and invoke the question "what's the real you?" Personality Akechi is a high school student who conducts a detective business. His abilities as a detective have been widely acclaimed, since he not only has solved numerous cases, but is also able to deal with people from the investigation agency smoothly. His handsome features draw him public attention, and people comment on him as “The Second Advent of the Detective Prince.” Behind his popularity, he is quite lonely and yearns to be loved. He was abandoned by his father, subsequently lost his mother to suicide, and never had close friends. He was passed around the foster care system as an orphan and has developed a far more jaded worldview than he initially lets on, even calling himself an unwanted child. He has a desperate desire to be acknowledged, which he is forthright about being the primary drive for his actions as a detective. He also has a narcissistic element to his personality, wishing for others to see him as a hero and those who oppose him as the villains. Akechi claims that he has carefully crafted his public image in the hopes that it would make people accept him. He has the public's support only if he upholds the pretense of being a charismatic idol detective, and his fans are quick to turn on him if he makes mistakes, such as when the Phantom Thieves triumphed over Kaneshiro and Medjed. His wish to be acknowledged pushes him to follow his father's orders. Shido both praises and threatens Akechi to manipulate him, and their conversations are always mission-based with no signs of affection. However, Akechi secretly resents Shido for abandoning him and causing his mother to commit suicide. He has sworn revenge on his father, even going as far as being a hitman for Shido and acting as his right-hand-man in pursuit of his goal to ruin him when he is at the apex of his power. After meeting and joining the party, he experiences how it feels to be happy together with friends for the first time in his life, particularly the protagonist. Akechi both admires and envies him, since no matter his social standing and how others see him, the protagonist does not let anything stop him from making his own path. Near the final act of the game, his obsession to get revenge on his father and desire to be the hero of his own story overshadows his true feelings for the protagonist and the party. Before fighting the Phantom Thieves, Akechi reveals his plans for revenge and dismisses the concept of friends and true justice, claiming they are both meaningless and sickening. However, after learning the truth of how Shido sees him from his cognitive version of Akechi, his goals change to align with the party's, and he sacrifices himself to protect the protagonist. ''Persona 5 Maniax states that Akechi is endowed with the same wild card power as the protagonist, and is the other "chosen one." Despite being overwhelmed with jealousy and contempt for Joker who was surrounded by friends, Akechi says he would have wanted to meet Joker earlier, and doesn't deny what Mona said about him taking a liking to Joker. In the end, he seems to hold complicated feelings toward Joker. The official Persona 5 Artbook reveals that Akechi lives alone in a city apartment. His main skill is reasoning, and he has a habit of getting lost in thought during conversations. His hobbies include cycling (specifically, with a hybrid bicycle for easy turning in Tokyo), bouldering, and playing fashionable games like darts. His guidebook profile also states that Akechi always makes sure to try out the latest popular dishes in order to use food as a conversation piece. Waiting in long lines for this doesn't bother him. He uses his cycling hobby to ride around town, gathering stories to utilize in conversation with adults. Since he spends a lot of time with adults, he has a reputation among Tokyo’s famous hidden stores and high class restaurants, although in truth he has little interest in the food’s flavor. Profile ''Persona 5'' Akechi is the illegitimate son of Masayoshi Shido, the same man responsible for the protagonist's probation period. His mother was shamed by others after his birth and ultimately lead to her suicide to escape the guilt. Akechi grew up resentful to his father and swore revenge, plotting to get near his father as an ally and helping him with his plans only to foil it when his father was at the pinnacle of success. At some point in the past, Akechi acquired the ability to use the Wild Card, manifesting as a Persona and became knowledgeable of the Metaverse. Using his power, Akechi approached his father, posing as an upcoming detective and used his abilities in the Metaverse to be a personal assassin for his father's enemies. Under the belief that his father would soon grow to trust him, Akechi became one of Shido's most powerful allies. In addition, Akechi learned that he could turn Shadows berserk, causing real world accidents which he would as cases for him to solve and soon gained widespread fame due to his charismatic personality and good looks, gaining him the title of "The Second Coming of the Detective Prince" and gaining celebrity status as a result. Prior to meeting the party, Akechi has been mentioned by Shadow Madarame as the guy with the black mask, which alerts the Phantom Thieves. The reformation of Madarame himself draws the attention of the Phantom Thieves to him. He first meets the protagonist during a Shujin Academy school trip to a TV station where Akechi was scheduled to appear as a guest. Akechi greets the protagonist when he overhears him talking with Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, and Morgana backstage talk about pancakes. Akechi first takes a stance on most public talk shows where he disapproves of the Phantom Thieves actions, but he takes particular interest in the protagonist who defended the Phantom Thieves actions. He approaches the protagonist after the show and expresses that he enjoyed their conversation on the show and hopes to speak again sometime. This causes the Justice Confidant to form between the two. Akechi continues to maintain his stance of his disapproval of the Phantom Thieves, but as the Phantom Thieves continue to change the heart of corrupted individuals such as Junya Kaneshiro and eventually stops a massive hacking attack by Medjed, the Phantom Thieves popularity explodes while Akechi's popularity takes a sharp dive due to his disapproval. With the Phantom Thieves popularity at its peak, the Conspiracy use the opportunity to manipulate their next target by using several accounts to force Kunikazu Okumura to the top of the heist request. The Phantom Thieves accept it due to the inhumane treatment of the Okumura Food's workers and Kunikazu's own daughter, Haru Okumura, wanting to rebel against her political marriage by her father to Sugimura. At the climax of the heist, the Phantom Thieves manage to defeat Kunikazu and force a change of heart. However, as his Palace collapses, Akechi takes the opportunity to assassinate Kunikazu. As a result, during Kunikazu's press conference, he suffers a mental breakdown on camera, leading to many believing that his death was the Phantom Thieves's doing, causing many to throw suspicion on their motives and instantly support Akechi due to his staunch disapproval of their methods. Sixth Heist: Sae Niijima Later, Shujin Academy is searching for a guest celebrity to speak at their cultural festival. In a landslide vote by the entire student body, Akechi is unanimously chosen. Makoto invites Akechi to speak at the school and he accepts the invitation. Knowing that she can no longer pull information from her sister, she decides that having Akechi to inquire would be the next best thing. During his speech, he boldly announces that he knows of the Phantom Thieves' identities, but stops before revealing it in order to pull the Phantom Thieves aside to talk. He produces photos taken of the Phantom Thieves escaping Okumura Foods in their Phantom Thief gear and strikes a deal with them. They are to pull off a heist in Sae Niijima's palace, which Makoto reveals that she is already aware of her sister's palace existence. The Phantom Thieves tell him that they did not murder Kunikazu, which he believes and even states that he had discovered the Metaverse a month prior and had encountered a man in black mask which lead to his awakening. Goro requests that he accompany them on their heist to catch the real culprit and clear the Phantom Thieves name while using the photos as blackmail if they refuse. He also requests that they disband after the heist in exchange for destroying the photo evidence. Left without alternatives, the Thieves agree to Akechi's deal. After everyone leaves the room, Morgana talks to the protagonist asking if he caught on to Akechi, which the protagonist affirms as they first met Akechi on June 10th, more than four months prior and could only have known that the group was talking about pancakes if he could hear Morgana, the only person to mention it. Realizing that Akechi was going to betray them, the Phantom Thieves plan an escape for Akechi's trap with him none the wiser. The heist is successful and Shadow Sae is defeated and her treasure taken. However, the victory is cut short when a large police force appear outside of Sae's Palace, having entered the Metaverse. The protagonist decides to act as a decoy so the rest of the Phantom Thieves can escape, Akechi follows the others while the protagonist catches the police's attention and is ultimately caught. With the protagonist's capture, he is given time to be interrogated with Sae, allowing him to recount the events of the Phantom Thieves heist and ultimately turns her into an ally. Before she leaves his room, he hands her a cellphone and tells him to show it to Akechi when she sees him. Akechi heads to the protagonist's interrogation room under the pretense of interrogating the protagonist himself. On his way there, he encounters Sae who had just left the room. She shows him the phone, but Akechi is unaware of its purpose. After Sae leaves, Akechi proceeds to shoot the guard outside of the Interrogation room and enters the protagonist's room where he does the same. He plants the gun into the protagonist's hand to give the impression that he committed suicide after killing the guard and walks away laughing that the Phantom Thieves will be no more. In reality, when Sae showed Akechi the phone, he was transported back into the Metaverse and the security guard and the protagonist he shot were no more than cognitions, while both escaped death. To help Sae believe the Phantom Thieves, Futaba planted a bug onto Akechi's phone to extract a conversation between Akechi and Shido. The protagonist is rescued, but to Akechi and the rest of the world, the protagonist committed suicide and all evidence for his death was disposed of, even though no one went to check the body. Seventh Heist: Masayoshi Shido Akechi makes a public appearance where he addresses the protagonist's "suicide" at a talk show. The public now gives Akechi their full support for capturing the Phantom Thief, but through his teeth, he states that they would not support him if they knew of his poor origins. A while later, Akechi receives sudden orders from Shido to kill the people involved in their schemes earlier than expected, which confuses Akechi who thought everything would settle until after the election. When he expresses some doubt about the matter, Shido immediately threatens him and asks Akechi if he knows what it means to disobey him. At this point, Akechi realizes that there is a high chance the protagonist is still alive and encroaching upon Shido's Palace. After the Phantom Thieves secure all the necessary letters to enter Shido's Treasure Room, Akechi confronts the Phantom Thieves in the boiler room where he expresses his surprise that the protagonist is alive. He reveals his plan to expose his status as Shido's illegitimate son when Shido wins the election and reveal his crimes, there by shattering his father's career and credibility. He battles the Phantom Thieves, revealing his ability to make Shadows berserk and that he can use multiple Personas like the protagonist. After his first defeat, he laments that he could not have met the protagonist sooner and prevented the horrible things he has done. While the Phantom Thieves extend their hands to let him back into their groups, he refuses, stating that he hates the protagonist for being everything he could not be. He uses his own berserk ability on himself in a last ditch effort to defeat the Phantom Thieves, but ultimately fails. The heavily wounded Akechi surrenders and expresses his envy of the protagonist for being surrounded by such loyal friends and that once they expose Shido, they will be seen as heroes, while his fame and trust will vanish. Having lost the will to go on, Akechi laments being unable to become someone special; but to his absolute shock, the protagonist and the others point out how he is already special to them and still allow him rejoin them if he wanted to, much to his utter disbelief in their forgiveness and acceptance. "Cognitive Akechi" appears, the manifestation of how Shido always viewed him: an obedient puppet. His cognitive self, also having the power to summon and control Shadows, taunts and mocks Akechi's wish for wanting to be accepted, even calling him a puppet. The cognition reveals that Shido was planning to kill Akechi all along soon as the election was over, as well as planning to pin all the murders and incidents on Akechi, and then tells him to take his death as a punishment. Revolted by this revelation and given the choice to either betray the Phantom Thieves once more or die, Akechi chooses to shoot the locking switch on the wall, sealing himself off from the Phantom Thieves. Knowing that they would die if they tried to save him, he puts his trust in the Phantom Thieves to stop Shido for him. As Akechi faces off against his Cognition, the last sound to be heard are two gunshots followed by complete silence. Futaba states that she can no longer sense any presence coming from the other side of the wall. Later, Sae affirms that Akechi is reported missing. Shido is very insecure of the exposure of his connection to Akechi as well as the fact that Akechi is his illegitimate son. When the party confronts Shadow Shido after Akechi's apparent death, he says that he would have eliminated Akechi in the end because Akechi knew too much about him, and because Akechi's birth is a taint to his political power. Shadow Shido gloats about how he used praise to make Akechi dance in the palm of his hand, and says that he was the reason Akechi used his powers in such an effective way, taking the credit for being the one who taught Akechi about mental shutdowns. The party reacts with disgust and condemns Shido for twisting Akechi in such a way and making a teenager commit murders for him. Failing to complete any of the first six palaces before the deadline causes Akechi to enter the interrogation room after Sae leaves it to give the protagonist time to recuperate. Alone, Akechi shoots the protagonist in the head and leaves. Failure to complete Shido's palace on time leads to Akechi discovering that the protagonist is alive and he appears in the protagonists room where he arrests him for murdering a guard and deceiving police, stating that "This game is over." Even if the protagonist fails to complete the heist after Akechi's supposed death, he still appears anyway, however. The hazy filter from the other bad endings is used in this scene as well, leaving whether the scene is truely happening or not ambiguous. Confidant Akechi's Confidant is automatically established on June 10th. This Confidant progresses along with the story, and can only progress past Rank 7 if the player answers Sae's questions correctly during the interrogation in November. Because Akechi's stay in the party is only temporary, his battle abilities are all activated when he joins the party. Maxing this Confidant unlocks the fusion of Metatron. Akechi's Confidant is one of two that does not have a farewell gift to the protagonist. Persona 5 The Animation The Day Breakers Akechi makes an appearance on TV, where he is asked his opinion on the Phantom Thieves of Hearts. His response is that whether or not they truly exist, they are criminals who should be brought to justice; he goes on to denounce their actions, and believes that forcing people to change what's in their hearts is wrong. He is later present at the arrest of Kazuya Makigami and his gang, noticing the protagonist when Kazuya saw him. Strategy In the first phase, Akechi is shielded by Guard Dog of Hades and Spear-wielding General. He will cause them to use Desperation which greatly raises their offense at the cost of defense. As these two heavily favor physical attacks, throwing up Physical Ointments or Tetrakarn will speed up this part of the fight. Once his two minions are down, Akechi enters the fight himself, attacking the protagonist exclusively in this order: Kougaon, Eigaon, Megaton Raid. This makes Akechi easily exploitable by putting up Tetrakarn and Makarakarn on the protaginist in the right order. This pattern will repeat until Akechi's health is halved, in which he will use his next turn to cast Megidolaon. If the battle continues past that turn, Akechi will use his next two turns to Charge then Megaton Raid towards the protagonist. In the second phase, Akechi focus on Physical elements. He will use Tetrakarn to repel Physical attacks and use Brave Blade afterward. Occasionally, he may use Negative Pile which is dangerous if the target is the protagonist and if he is afflicted with Despair. It's best for the protagonist to use a Persona which nullifies the damage of Physical attacks. After a portion of his HP is down, he'll begin focusing on Magic-based skills. Similarly like the previous phase he'll use Makarakarn to repel Magic attacks and use a Magic skill. It is recommended not to have Yusuke in the party since Akechi can easily gain One More if Maragion lands on him. The protagonist should be wary of using Personas that are vulnerable to Fire or Curse skills unless they have skills that increases resistance of Fire or Curse. When his HP is reduced to at least a third, Akechi will begin to routinely switch patterns, but he doesn't use a Physical skill along with a Magic skill in his turns. Occasionally, and on the first turn of this phase, Akechi will use Laevatein, an powerful Almighty skill to the protagonist which cannot be deflected. It is wise to have the protagonist guard to reduce the damage, and have his allies recover his HP or also reduce Akechi's offensive damage and increase the protagonist's defense. Whenever Akechi successfully downs an enemy, he'll use the follow-up to apply Desperation on himself. Otherwise, he'll perform a different action, mainly Dekaja if the protagonist's party has buffs, or Heat Riser to apply buffs to himself, if Desperation is already active. Stats First phase= |-| Second phase= |Dark= |Alm=- |EXP=5700 |Yen=20000 |Skill= Negative Pile Desperation Brave Blade Laevatein Deathbound Dekaja Dekunda Heat Riser Tetrakarn Makarakarn Eigaon Maeiga Maragion Megidolaon |Boss=Yes }} Battle Quotes Quotes video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehMX8YJrj8k Ally * "Robin Hood!" (Using Persona Skill) * "Now, Robin!" (Using Persona Skill) * "Loki!" (Using Persona Skill - Unused) * "Arise, Loki!" (Using Persona Skill - Unused) * "My skills exceed yours!" (Selecting Persona Skill) * "Taste my wrath!" (Selecting Persona Skill) * "Manifest!" (Selecting Persona Skill) * "Persona!" (Selecting Persona Skill) * "It doesn't die!" (Akechi's attack or Skill doesn't defeat the enemy) * "I was merciful." (Akechi's attack or Skill doesn't defeat the enemy) * "Very clever..." (Akechi misses or Skill fails to inflict damage) * "Someone cover me!" (Akechi misses) * "Saw that." (Akechi dodges) * "Too slow!" (Akechi dodges) * "One down, now it's two!" (Akechi reduces the enemies to two) * "It's the last one!" (Akechi reduces the enemies to one) * "You need my help?" (Initiating Follow-Up) * "Understood. Moving in!" (Follow-Up Attack) * "We're still fighting!" (Using Harisen Recovery on an ally) * "How inconvenient." (Using Harisen Recovery on an ally) * "I'll use this!" (Using an Item) * "There." (Giving Baton Pass) * "I'll do my best!" (Receiving Baton Pass) * "Roger." (Receiving Baton Pass) * "Allow me." ''(Receiving Baton Pass) * ''"This can't be..." (Incapacitated) * "Lucky hit..." (Incapacitated) * "Ugh, electrified!" (Inflicted with Shock) * "That takes care of that. Let's move!" (Battle results) * "Lets keep up this pace!" ''(Battle results) * ''"Checkmate." (Initiating Hold-Up) * "Freeze!" (Initiating Hold-Up) * "It'll be a massacre!" (Initiating All-out Attack) * "This is what I was waiting for!" (Initiating All-out Attack) * 'Let's scatter!" (Initiating All-out Attack) * "Learned your lesson?" (All-out Attack finishing touch) * "Stay out of our way." (All-out Attack finishing touch) * "That was the taste of defeat!" (All-out Attack finishing touch) * "Just watch me." (Tactics changed to Act Freely) * "Very well, there will be no survivors." (Tactics changed to Full Assault) * "Roger. No Persona Skills." (Tactics changed to Conserve SP) * "Safety first." (Tactics changed to Heal/Support) * "I expect concise commands." (Tactics changed to Direct Command) * "Time to go, withdraw!" (Escaping from battle) Boss Battle 1 * "I won't let you stop me." * "Kill them...Persona!" * "Take them down...Robin Hood!" (Using Megaton Raid) * "Perrrsonaaa!" (Using Charge) * "Damn you..." (Taking damage) * "Whoa!" (Dodges attack) * "Serves you right!" ''(Protagonist dies) * ''"Let's do this." (Randomly at the start of someone's turn) * "You'll pay for that!" (Randomly at the start of someone's turn) Boss Battle 2 * "You are the trash of society. I will kill you! Destroy you! Crush you...! Teammates are nothing but trash!" * "You're just... pieces of shit... who lick each other's wounds...! Anything goes... if you say you're teammates...!" (At medium health) * "Why are you... looking at me like that...!? I've... I've succeeded until now... all by myself...! I don't need... teammates... I don't..." (At low health) * "Descend, Loki!" * "I'm not letting you off!" * "Take them down Loki!" (Using Deathbound) * "Eat this!" (Using Brave Blade) * "Die." (Using Eigaon) * "Incinerate!" (Using Maragion) * "Go to Hell!" (Using Megidolaon) * "What!?" (Akechi's Skill misses) * "Grr..." (Akechi's Skill misses) * "The hell was that?" (Taking damage) * "Too slow!" (Dodges attack) * "Stay down." (Downs an enemy/Attacking Downed enemy) * "Serves you right." (Kills a party member) * "Uaaaaaggggghh!" (Defeated) * "Hahahaha...AHHAHAHAHA!!" (Protagonist dies) * "You pieces of shit!" (Randomly at the start of someone's turn) * "Whaaat?" (Randomly at the start of someone's turn) *''"I...will KILL you!"'' (Randomly at the start of someone's turn) Gallery Etymology "Go" (吾) of Gorō is the archaic form of the first person pronoun "I" in Chinese which carries no meaning in formal Japanese language and is merely borrowed for Chinese translation or naming. Akechi (明智) literally means "wisdom" in Chinese, the same meaning in Japanese would be "kenmei" (賢明). Trivia *Goro Akechi is a reference to the name (明智 小五郎), a fictional private detective created by Japanese mystery writer (a pseudonym for Tarō Hirai) from the story "The Case of the Murder on D. Hill" in January 1925 and continued to appear in stories for a quarter of a century. Edogawa Rampo is considered the father of the Japanese detective story and was a great admirer of Sir . Akechi is the first recurring detective character in Japanese fiction and is clearly inspired by Doyle’s . It also makes sense for Akechi to be the rival of the team as in the introduction to the translated version of 'The Early Cases of Kogoro Akechi' The Fiend with Twenty Faces (Akechi's main rival) is referred to as 'more of an Arsene Lupin than a Moriarty' *His name may also be a reference to , a retainer of the notorious daimyo and conqueror Oda Nobunaga who rebelled against him for reasons that are often interpreted as either disgust for Nobunaga's flaunting of bushido. *Akechi's outfit when he uses Loki has a pattern blue and black in contrast to his outfit when he uses Robin hood which has a theme of red and white. *While Akechi is a Wild Card just like the protagonist, unlike him, he can only use two Personas. The data mining of the Persona status reveals that his other Persona, Loki, belongs to the Justice Arcana like Robin Hood, Akechi's signature Arcana. That means there is no indication of him being able to possess Personas of other Arcana, another defining trait of the Wild Card Persona User. *As a Wild Card Persona user, Akechi has an interesting ability of being able to change his outfit to better match the Persona he is using. He takes advantage of this to don the regal prince outfit used while he is a party member. *Despite being a short term party member, Akechi won first place in Sega Festival 2016 fans polling for favorite party member question. *According to an episode of Persona Stalker Club, Akechi's attaché case contains a laptop and documents about cases. The A mark means Akechi and is his own craftsmanship, because he likes to show off. And apparently, the period after the A indicates an abbreviation for "Answer." *Within the Metaverse, Akechi's stance mirrors Joker's, but lacks the natural sway that Joker has, instead standing completely still. *Many of Akechi's DLC outfits hint at his status as the traitor: he is dressed as a major antagonist for three sets (Boss from Catherine, Ideo Hazama from Shin Megami Tensei: if... and General Munakata from Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha vs. The Soulless Army) and as a major enemy-turned-ally for the Persona 2 set, as he's the only one wearing the Kasugayama uniform - the same worn by Jun Kurosu and Eikichi Mishina, though the latter being a party member since the start. *Just like with Makoto Niijima before, the official twitter account for the Persona series posted a "Happy Birthday" message for Akechi on June 2, 2017 JST. *Goro Akechi is left-handed. *According to Akechi's Maniax profile, his ideal type of lover is someone who keeps a reasonable amount of distance. Also, if he won 700 million yen, he would travel and see the world after his entrance exams. *In Maniax, Akechi's message for someone in the PT reads: To the leader: "You don’t seem to excel particularly in areas of looks, intelligence, or athletics. Yet I wonder why people tend to gather around you... it makes me very curious." *Akechi's confidant was originally planned to be optional. Because he became an enemy later on, it was difficult to incorporate into the plot, so his confidant became automatic. *No other persona was considered for Akechi apart from Loki. Other than the protagonist, Loki was most suitable for him. Loki is a character well known within Norse Mythology and had a special place in earlier SMT games, and reflects on Akechi’s own place in the game. Category:Persona 5 The Animation Characters Category:Allies Category:Persona 5 Enemies Category:Persona 5 Bosses